Republican Meltdown?

Cartoon from 11/07 by Mike Keefe, The Denver Post (web site, email)

In "Party Building," News For Real's Steve Pizzo writes,

We should all be well versed by now on the does and don’t of nation building. You help the moderates in the country, even if you don’t like them, in order to empower them and isolate the radical elements. Easily said. Hard to do. Democrats are now faced with the need for some serious party-building – isolating the radicals in the party by embracing the more levelheaded moderates in the party.

He's talking about reacing out to Republicans. Some at NewsTrust read this as advice the R's and found fault with the taxonomy errors.

I, on the other hand, took it as advice to the D's and while the family tree may be mislabeled, I think Pizzo makes a valid point that more and more of the moderating forces in the Republican party have been thrown out by voters and this will make it harder for Democrats. ( To this, I would add that many have retired voluntarily--while Lincoln Chaffee was voted out, Tom Davis and John Warner of VA retired.)

James Joyner points to a George Will column (both linked below)

After the 1936 election, when the Republican nominee against FDR, Kansas Gov. Alf Landon, carried only two states, both in New England (hence the jest, “As Maine goes, so goes Vermont”), there were 29 congressional seats in New England and Republicans still held 15. With Tuesday’s defeat of Connecticut Republican Chris Shays, Democrats hold all 22 New England seats. As recently as 1996, when New York had 31 House seats, Republicans held 14; after Tuesday, they have just three of 29. With the loss of the seat on Staten Island, Republicans will hold at most one urban seat.

Both Joyner and Will are conservative Republicans and thus qualified to offer advice to their party, except according to the judgment of those who want to exile anyone who expressed doubt about McCain/Palin--see Douthat in The Atlantic). That meltdown makes me wonder what happened to Reagan's Eleventh Commandment:

Thou shall speak no evil of a fellow Republican?

It harkens back to the time here in Virginia when I observed whippersnappers being rude to mountain Valley Republican and former cabinent member Rod Layman for refusing to support Ollie North.

And of course, even some New England R's think they need an even firmer message. See Peyser.

Palin Last Nail in Republican Coffin? Outside the Beltway - by James Joyner - Nov. 6, 2008

What Would Goldwater Do? Washington Post - by George Will -Nov. 5, 2008

Why The Grassroots Needs Elites - Ross Douthat Atlantic Monthly - Nov. 10, 2008

Republicans rebrandedBoston Globe - by James Peyser - Nov. 9, 2008

The Recount in MN

Cartoon by Steve Sack (email), The Minneapolis Star Tribune. Hat tip to Blatherwatch.


Franken or Coleman for the Senator from MN? We still don't know and won't for some time. The race ended November 4 in a virtual tie:

• Republican NORM COLEMAN--1,211,590 (41.99%)
• Democratic-Farmer-Labor AL FRANKEN--1,211,375 (41.98)
  

Substantial votes went to Indpendent Dean Barkley (437,404--15.16%) who served as temporary appointment to fill Wellstone's seat after his death. It was a crowded field with other contenders failing to gain much support:

• Libertarian CHARLES ALDRICH 13916 0.48
• Constitution JAMES NIEMACKL 8905 0.31
• Write-Ins 2340 0.08
  

The WaPo's Mary Pat Flaherty reports in "Minn. Senate Race Far From Over: Incumbent Coleman Is Just 239 Votes Ahead of Al Franken" on November 8:

The recount in that election will not be completed until mid-December, and even then, a candidate or voter can challenge the outcome, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie said. Sen. Norm Coleman (R) held a 239-vote lead over Democrat Al Franken as of late yesterday. That margin of less than 0.5 percentage points triggers an automatic recount under Minnesota law.

Ritchie said he would hope to finish the recount by Dec. 19. But that process cannot begin until the election results are certified Tuesday.

Franken said on Minnesota Public Radio that he will not waive the recount.

This is the closest race in Minnesota history, the closest Senate race and the closest race anywhere in the country. This is just part of the process to make sure every vote is counted," he said, adding: "Candidates don't get to decide when an election's over -- voters do.

Minnesota voters use paper ballots. They will be reviewed first at the local level, with an elections official and an observer for each candidate on hand, if the candidate chooses. Any ballot challenged by an observer will be sealed and sent to the state canvassing board consisting of two state Supreme Court justices, two district court judges and chaired by the secretary of state. The board certifies the general-election results some time after Decenber 16.

According to MN Public Radio, Coleman is already in court challenging the canvassing.

To keep up with the recount, I recommend Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com.

Things are up in the air in two additional races. Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss will have a run-off against Democrat Jim Martin, since Chambliss fell a bit shy the 50 percent he needed to win election in Georgia. We also are waiting to find out the results of the Alaska race between incumbent Ted Stevens (R), against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D). Stevens ran despite his felony conviction last month for his failure to report gifts.

And BTW, Silver had an interesting post November 5, What In The Hell Happened in Alaska? about the oddly shrinking electorate there.

Obama Wins, Goode May Be Gone, Mitch Not Ditched

Mike Keefe (website, email) The Denver Post on what Obama has inherited (from 11/14/2008). Most of the immediate images were of Lincoln being happy.

When I voted at the Newport Rec Center this morning, it look like the Dems had conceded Giles County. They had no poll watchers as compared to two for McCain, although they did have a smattering of yard signs. BREF was writing in Matt Hepler against incumbent dem Rick Boucher for the 9th Distric Congressional seat. I got an email from Wise County the the teachers there were writing in the Green candidate. Both because of Boucher's stalwalt support of handouts for the coal industry and refusing to support roadblocks to MTR such as the Clean Water Protection Act.

Watched the election results tonight over at the Spanish House on a variety of sources. After two elections where it looked like Bush would lose, the networks were being cautious in projecting a win for Obama. CNN called PA for Obama at 7:40 p.m. despite the last minute attempt to portray Obama as wanting to bankrupt the coal industry, but that only gave Obama 102 electoral votes to McCain's 49. About an hour later, at 8:34 CNN called Ohio for Obama. He had already won Michigan and Minnesota. Ky went for McCain--no surprise, but the insipid candidate the dem party hacks put forward against Mitch McConnel failed to unseat him. (more on that later, after I check in with Betsy, who lives there. It looks like Virginia will go for Obama and at 10:00 CNN suddenly (it seems) projects Virginia the winner. To tell you the truth, we are a subdued group. Happy, but no ecstasy here. We leave and, ever the news junky, I go elsewhere to watch the McCain gracious concession speech (amid boos), Obama's victory speech and Comedy Central's take.

It looks like Tom Perriello may have ousted Virgil Goode. And the Franken-Coleman race is too close to call. Other interesting reading for election day: Nate Silver on the problem with exit polls. How Tim Robbins had trouble voting in NYC. The Fox meme on the Panthers plot to disrupt voting. Lieberman's further diffection from his former party. Forensicon's news release that a security firm lining up vendors to assist the Republican National Committee with consulting related to potential allegations of computerized voter fraud had contacted the Chicago computer forensics company last Thursday.